Navigating the roads in Oman

Cars seems to be a part of everyday life no matter where in the world you live.  Some places may have less cars, some places have more, but it's safe to say that cars are everywhere.  Here in Oman it's no different.  However, the people who drive the cars makes a HUGE difference!  Let me tell you about transportation here in Oman.

Shortly after we arrived here in Oman, we were picked up at the airport by our manager from the resort.  He drove an SUV that was made by some company I had never heard of before.  It was my assumption that America had the same car brands as everyone else; well this is not so.  I was excited to see all kinds of different car brands here - Renault and Peugot to name a few.  

Renault Duster - We've rented one of these before - very nice!

You still have all the major brands of course, but it seems to me that Toyota and Hyundai hold the lions share of the market here.  Almost every car I see on the road is a Toyota Corolla or a Hyundai Sonata.  They are everywhere, and they look brand new.  I hardly see that many older cars, just lots of shiny new Hyundais and Toyotas.  Brittney and I love the Hyundai Santa Fe!  We've even thought of buying one here to ship back.  You see, cars here are a fraction of the price back in the U.S.  I'm not sure why but cars are very cheap here!  Even brands like Mercedes and BMW sell for sometimes 50% less than back in the states.  Not sure why this is but I LIKE IT. 

Now, because this is a rich oil country, OF COURSE you see plenty of awesome cars - Bugatti, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc etc.  Even the police officers drive nice cars!  I usually see most cops in a BMW or a Mercedes squad car.   Sometimes they also have Land Rovers.  Must be nice :)

BMW police car next to us

 Driving without a seat belt is normal in Oman.  Crazy huh!?  If you get pulled over and you're not wearing a seatbelt it's no big deal.  In fact, I often see small children hanging out the sunroof or cars while speeding down the road - SO SCARY.  Another interesting thing is that they cover the entire interior of their cars in plastic.  Literally everything inside the car is covered.  This is done to protect their cars for resale.  It's like a giant cell phone case, lining the entire car.  But that's not even the worst part - whenever we take a taxi somewhere, we can't buckle our seat belts BECAUSE THEY ARE BURIED UNDERNEATH PLASTIC.  So even if you wanted to strap yourself in, tough luck.  A lot of times we will just rent a car for the day, and they almost always have seat belts to use :)  Rental cars are pretty cheap too. They rent for about 10 Rial per day, which is $25 USD.

Rented a Honda Civic to go to the beach!

Gas here is extremely cheap as well!  It's about $1/gallon.  It's amazing!  Back home in Southern California, there are places where it's $5/gallon.  Did you know that the last time gas was $1 in the US was in the year 1989?!  AND if you adjust for inflation, gas has actually NEVER been $1 in the United States.  The cheapest that gas has ever been in the US (adjusted for todays inflation) is $1.62, which happened in 1990.  I suppose one of the benefits of living in the Middle East is that gas is ridiculously cheap.  But, you have to move to the Middle East ;)

In order to drive, you must have a valid Omani Drivers License.  All I had to do was go to their "DMV" equivalent, and show them my current California License, and walla!  If you think going to the DMV is America is bad, you can't even imagine how crowded it is here.  Imagine your local DMV packed to it's fullest, and then everyone is yelling in dozens of different languages, and there is no electronic ticketing, only first come first serve!  It's survival of the fittest get your license first.  However, I had a local Omani "guru" take me to the DMV, and you wouldn't even believe the process we went through.  We walk in to see hundreds of people lined up at small kiosk windows waiting for their turn, and he takes me right up to the front of the line, and through a door to the other side where the DMV workers are all sitting and processing paperwork (you can imagine if this were the USA, we would have been tackled or tazed by now).

My "guru" starts speaking Arabic to the worker and he immediately stops tending to the long line of people waiting to get their license, and takes me into a back office room.  I kept thinking to myself, "People in America would be LIVID if the DMV clerk left his desk to give someone special priority."  Well that's exactly what happened.  In this office room in the back, they proceeded to look over my paperwork.  Then I was told I would have to take an eye test.  I agreed, and he guided me to a line on the floor.  Then he asked me, "Do you need glasses to see?"  I said no, and he said, "Good. Test finished."  BEST. EYE TEST. EVER.  He took my picture, and we walked back into the crowded roof full of waiting patrons.  The clerk then went back to work tending to all the other people in the long line waiting.  The strange thing is that none of the people waiting in the long line even looked at me, nor did they seem to notice the clerk had left.  Everyone just kind of understands that this is the process in the Middle East.  Those who have connections get served, and those who don't, wait.  I was actually sad for all the people waiting.  I felt bad that I had skipped them all, but I simply went where my local took me, and spoke when he told me to speak.  I would have been lost in the sea of foreign languages without my guru guiding me.  A few minutes later, I was given my official Omani Drivers License

I wish all License Pictures squeezed your head to make you look thinner!

Let me tell you some other details about driving in Oman:

All of the drivers education cars are specifically marked with red stripes.  That way everyone on the road stays clear of them.  I think that's a pretty brilliant idea!  That way you don't get stuck behind some slow driving students.

Beware: Student Driver

Here's one thing that drives me CRAZY! In Oman it's legal for anyone to drive on the beach.  You'll literally be sitting in the sand and soaking up the waves when suddenly some crazy driver speeds past you at 35mph down the beach.  SO SCARY!  I keep thinking, what if there are kids on the beach playing?  I'm no Einstein, but I'm pretty sure a car can't stop in the sand to avoid hitting someone.  Luckily there aren't alot of people with trucks who can drive in the sand.  When it does happen though, you'll see me waving my arms in frustration at these people ;)

I have no problem yelling at these people.

CAMELS RULE THE ROAD.  You know how in the United States, you always see those signs for "Deer Crossing" "Horse Crossing" or "Cow Crossing"? Whelp, you guessed it:

The hump says it all.  Nuff Said

Camels not only slow traffic, but they literally STOP traffic because everyone wants to get out of their car and either (A.) Take a Picture (B.) Pet Them (C.) Feed Them (D.) Try to Ride them.  I certainly am not brave enough to try the latter.  

Stare Down

Out for an evening stroll.

Did I mention that I LOVE Camels?

There you have it folks.  Now you are well prepared for you first driving experience in Oman.

Camels, Kayaks, Cliffs and More Adventures In KHAREEF

Let me begin this week's blog by telling you that I am excited.  And anyone who knows me can attest that when I get excited, I'M EXCITED.  Okay, now that I've set the stage:  I got to see CAMELS in the wild!! And not just a few of them...hundreds!!  IT WAS AWESOME!!! I apologize ahead of time, I'll be using alot of exclamation points in this post!!!

Okay, let me tell you about this week:

The monsoon season known as Khareef is coming to a close here in Salalah, Oman, which means the rainfall will slowly come to a halt, all the lush oases will dry up, and much of the lush greenery will turn brown. We decided to take the day off on Friday and head out with some friends to explore all the beauty that Salalah has to offer. 

We began our trip by heading up into the mountains to explore the lush jungle-like terrain during this season. We drove 45 minutes up steep hills through the most beautiful green scenery.  It literally felt like we were in Hawaii.  I was still in awe that this much forest exists in a country that is 99% sand.  

Our friend planned this particular surprise for us, and we were blown away when we arrived at this beautiful river and he said we would be kayaking!  I thought to myself, "Kayaking in the desert?!?! This is amazing!"  Sure enough, we were outfitted by the locals with kayaks and paddleboats, and sent off to explore the river of this vast jungle-like area of the mountains.  The weather was incredible too, it was warm and lightly foggy, with a little mist in the air to keep us cool.  It literally felt like we were in an Indiana Jones movie exploring some ancient terrain that was kept secret to preserve its beauty.  

The water was so crystal clear because the river was created by rainfall.  You could see beautiful plants on the bottom, and I was surprised to see fish as well!  The sound of waterfalls in the distance created an ambiance that was truly peaceful.  We all spoke softly; the place just seemed too reverent and peaceful, or maybe we just didn't want to awaken some magical creature that slept in the hills.  The best part was yet to come though!  After we finished kayaking, they had a small food stand where they served traditional local delicacies. 

We ate fresh mango and pomegranate seeds, stone-grilled lamb and chicken, tea and juice, and best of all POPCORN!  Yup, you heard me, popcorn.  I LOVE popcorn.  

I failed to mention this in the last blog post, but I crave popcorn and they don't have much here in Salalah.  I have seen one random brand of microwavable popcorn in the grocery store, but we don't have a microwave.  So in general I have been craving popcorn and have been unable to find it. Except now I can say that I have, at a charming food stand, in the mystical rainforest jungle of mysteriousness and magic!  Best. Day Ever.  Did I mention it was perfectly salted? Moving on...

Next we drove through more beautiful mountainous scenery and arrived at a waterfall oasis.  In Arabic they call it the Ayn Athum watefalls.  It's a gorgeous cliff that has multiple waterfalls cascading off of it into a lush pool of beautiful green water at the bottom.  This picture doesn't even do it justice.  I brought my swim trunks and was about to jump in, but decided that for this one time only, I wasn't gonna be that silly loud American totally ruining everyone else's peaceful ambiance.  Don't worry 'Murica, I take plenty of opportunities to do this elsewhere.  

Our full day of adventures ended with the icing on the cake.  We drove back back down to the coast, and headed west of Salalah to Al Mughsayl beach, which is an unbelievably beautiful section of coastline.  We parked the car, and the minute I turned around to look at the hillside, what do I see?  CAMELS!  Not just one, not two or three, but hundreds of camels.  Roaming the hillsides and munching on the green grass!  

I was so enthralled!  I sprinted over to where they were and they just kept on doing their thing as if I didn't even exist.  The locals said it was okay to pet them so I went right up to a camel and rubbed its belly.  They are such incredible creatures.  You don't really realize how freakin massive a camel is until you're right up next to it.   The top of camel's hump is probably  about 10 feet high, and it's neck extends to twice my height.  They are very calm and gentle creatures though.  They just cruise around eating grass and growling at one another.  

Please do me a favor, and open up YouTube right now and search "camel sounds". I promise you will laugh so hard at the noises they make.  The videos on YouTube are just like the real thing.  I couldn't stop laughing every time they growled, but they wouldn't even budge when I pet them.  It was almost as if they were saying, "Hey wise guy, while your petting me, you might as well scratch a little to the left, okay now itch a little to the right."  I told one of the locals that I'm from America and he said, I quote: "America, you have lots cow, Oman...camel." (written with distinct Omani broken English)  

After my great journey into the world of camels, I figured I had reached the pinnacle of joy, however there was still much to see.  Al Mughsayl is very famous for a few reasons.  

First, it is the location of some incredible caves and cliffs that hang down like giant icicles, and when you walk under them it feels as though they will drop on your head at any minute.  

Second, there is a massive blow hole along the waters edge, formed from underwater caves emptying and filling as waves crash onto the rocks, causing water to shoot up through holes in the ground.  Everyone stands around the blowhole to enjoy the refreshing mist of water that shoots 20-30 feet in the air.  

This region is also famously known as "The Land Bountiful," where it's believed an ancient prophet  built a ship thousands of years ago and sailed to the Americas.  The locals are in fact very proud of this traditional legend, and believe that it was Middle Easterners and Omanis who originally populated the Americas.  The locals also pointed out that there are ancient petroglyphs in Colorado that match petroglyphs found only here in Salalah, Oman.  If you ever want a good read, google this and check it out.  It's rather interesting because there are no other know locations of these specific petroglyph writings except for Colorado and Salalah.  Anyways, the views were breathtaking with all the green mountain sides and cliffs jutting out of the ocean.  It reminded me of the opening scene from Jurassic Park, where the helicopter flies in over the lush green mountainsides that seem to topple into the ocean below.  It was the perfect end to a perfect week.  Oman is such a beautifully diverse country with amazing people, and even more amazing landscapes.  I feel so blessed to be here enjoying it all.  Whelp, thats all for now.  Thanks for reading! I have received ton's of great questions from you readers, and I'll wrote a post later in the week to answer as many as I can.  Talk to you soon - Jared

P.S. -  CAUTION, CAMEL CROSSING!!!!